Unveiling Your Ideal Guest for a Profitable Business

In the tourism industry, identifying your ideal guest for your tours is just the first step. A vital one, to be sure, but only a part of the foundation. To truly succeed, you need to dive into the world of customer research and find out what truly makes your ideal guests tick…and buy.

Don't Assume, Understand

It's easy to assume what your guests want. After all, you’re the one who designed the tour based on what’s available, what you’re excited about, and what you think they need to see or experience. But designing a tour on these parameters isn’t going to make anyone excited to refer you or leave a five-star review.

Instead, you must start with customer research. By asking your guests about nuances of your tours like tour length, available perks, additions or subtractions to what you’re currently offering, starting time, and pick-up locations, you can make small shifts that have a significant impact on our offerings. Even better, doing this customer research before designing a tour not only decreases overall risk but also sets the foundation for success.

Connecting with Your Ideal Guests

So how do you find out what your prospective guests are looking for? Engage in conversations with them! We tend to overcomplicate things by trying to think through elaborate plans to gather feedback and input, but the solution lies in simplicity.?

One extremely effective way to make money as a tour business owner is to find a hot market, ask them what they want, and then give it to them. Our Guest Deep Dive? is an simple way to uncover specific information about your guests, enabling you to create tailored experiences that they will love.?

The Guest Deep Dive?

We focus on three key ways to conduct effective research on your ideal target guests. You can opt for live interviews either in-person or online, asking a series of specific questions to gain valuable insights. Interviewing someone in real time also allows you to ask valuable follow-up questions to gather even more information. Surveys via email or forums provide a broader reach and allow customers to provide feedback conveniently. Additionally, stealth research can offer valuable information by observing and analyzing customer behavior. Gather information from posts you see online, check out other tour operators’ online reviews, or scroll through online forums and communities you’re in to find out what guests want.

The Vital Questions

Knowing what to ask when you’re surveying or interviewing your ideal guest is important. Among the essential questions to ask our target audience, one stands out:

"When it comes to [X] - what's your single biggest challenge or frustration?"

Depending on what information you’d like, you then replace X with the types of tours you offer, your destination, or your niche! This question uncovers the problems your ideal guests are trying to solve or the experiences they want to have. Additionally, asking about their dream scenario helps align your offerings with the deepest desires of your customers. A great way to ask this is "If you could wave a magic wand to have the best [X] possible, what would it look like? What would be your dream scenario?"?

Aligning Experiences with Guest Needs

Ultimately, your goal should be to align your experiences as solutions to what your guests are looking for. By understanding their pain points, desires, and dreams, we can create offerings that truly resonate with their needs. As Henry Ford famously said, "If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses." It's our responsibility to go beyond surface-level expectations and deliver innovative solutions that exceed customer expectations.

In the pursuit of a profitable tour business, customer research plays a pivotal role. By understanding and empathizing with your ideal guests, you can create products and experiences that align with their desires. Let's stop assuming and start engaging in meaningful conversations. Together, we can uncover the secrets to success and revolutionize our businesses. Remember, it's not just about faster horses – it's about delivering what our guests truly want.

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For more free resources to help you grow your tour business, visit https://guestfocus.com/resources.

?P.S. If you want help in growing your tour business, book a free strategy call today with one of our tour business coaches

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Since 2015, our programs have helped over 2,000 tour operators from 75+ countries. Our tour business coaches have over 150 years of combined industry experience and work through our proprietary Guest Focus Formula? to sustainably grow client businesses. ??